New football stadiums are on the horizon in several Canadian cities.

Toronto, Hamilton and plenty of other cities seem forever caught in a cycle of debate over where they’ll be situated, how much they’ll cost and when (if ever) they might get built.

In Vancouver — lately anyway — the people in charge of such crucial decisions appear well ahead of the curve, getting the job done, tout de suite.

Who knew you could get a Swiss-built 27,500-seater for “only” $14 million and in merely a matter of weeks? The Empire Fields stadium going up at the site of long-gone Empire Stadium is temporary, being built to accommodate the CFL B.C. Lions and soccer’s Whitecaps, while B.C. Place is converted from its bubble-top to a hard retractable dome. The costs of the stopgap stadium have been factored into the larger, $458 million project.

The CFL is in the midst of a building boom — it has had its share of busts over the years — with new structures either underway, on the drawing boards or being talked up in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa and Saskatchewan.

“The stadium projects in various stages of development across the country are good news for the CFL,” says commissioner Mark Cohon via email. “Our goal is to build for the future — not just for this season, or the next one, but for the next generation of fans. And while we have more work to do in several areas to achieve this vision, the construction of infrastructure for our league, and for the broader communities in which we play, is a source of real optimism.”

Construction of the temporary stadium in Vancouver, which will feature 20,000 covered seats and the remainder open to the elements, is progressing apace with an expected completion in mid-June. Some of the materials involved have been salvaged from disassembled Winter Olympics venues but most have been shipped over from Switzerland, home to the project’s builders, Nussli. The company describes itself as “a leading, international supplier of temporary structures for events, trade fairs and exhibitions. We provide customized, integral solutions from the concept to the final implementation. These are characterized by brief implementation times and superior quality.”

Nussli has had scores of projects worldwide, including construction and tear down of the Ontario House building at the Vancouver Olympics. It was responsible for several of the temporary Olympic venues and annually provides 125,000 temporary seats for the annual Formula One race in Valencia, Spain.

The Lions played at old Empire Stadium (demolished in 1993) from the birth of the franchise in 1954 until moving into B.C. Place in 1983. The Lions have about 20,000 season ticket holders and expect to be ready to accommodate them for a pre-season game on June 20 against Edmonton. The washrooms will be mostly portable, the amenities basic but comfortable.

The Argos remain, if reluctantly, at the Rogers Centre. For years, the team’s previous owners made it clear they would have preferred to play in more intimate, football-friendly surroundings.

For their part, the Tiger-Cats are looking forward as part of the local Pan American Games largesse to acquiring a new facility to replace decrepit Ivor Wynn Stadium. But exactly where it will be situated has become a sore point.

The “if you build it, they will come” debate has engaged Ottawans for years as they have coped with the comings and goings of CFL operators while watching Frank Clair Stadium fall into disrepair. Currently, the nation’s capital is looking at a major refurbishment of the facility, along with the neighbouring Civic Centre that houses the junior hockey 67’s. The CFL should return in 2013, if all goes well.

In Winnipeg, the Blue Bombers hope to be housed by the 2012 season in a new 33,000-seat, $135 million building at the University of Manitoba. It will provide overhead protection for 80 per cent of fans, with seating expandable up to 40,000.

Not to be outdone, the community-owned Saskatchewan Roughriders — the province is booming — have been talking up a domed stadium for Regina at an estimated cost of $430 million.

UP: Quit? There’s none of that in the Canadiens or Flyers. Should be a great series.

DOWN: Hard to take the National Lacrosse League seriously when it schedules its championship game at an impossibly late hour.

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